


Snakes

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 09:30:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16679020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: “Fear can make a moth seem the size of a bull elephant.” - Stephen Richards





	Snakes

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the sneak peek for this weeks episode! While I thought Nick's face/reaction about there possibly being snakes hilarious, I decided to put a more angsty spin on it.

There wasn’t much that he was afraid of.

He could handle a gun being drawn in his face, a bomb on the verge of blowing up, you name it and Nick would face it head on.

Snakes were a different story.

It wasn’t one of those fears that people just  _ had _ without a reason, in fact he actually liked snakes once upon a time. Liked them so much that he had begged his parents for one as a pet.

Things changed when he was fourteen.

Before he got to high school and started joining sport teams, becoming the ‘popular jock’ because of it, he had been the kid who only had one friend. The kid who if he didn’t share a class or lunch period with that friend would be seen sitting apart alone or even escaping to an empty bathroom stall to eat his lunch. 

Nick could deal with the teasing for sounding different, the teasing when his Pa had walked out on them, the teasing when something was ‘accidentally’ spilled on him, the teasing when he was tripped in the hall. 

But eventually, words and little actions weren’t enough for the biggest bullies. 

* * *

_ Nick sighed heavily as he scrubbed the lockers in the boys locker room. Someone had written graffiti on a couple of them and somehow he had been the one blamed for it, which meant he was stuck staying an extra hour after school cleaning them. _

_ He had just reached into the bucket to grab the rag when the lights turned off. _

_ Nick jumped at the sudden darkness.  _

_ “Hello?” He called out, the lights weren’t supposed to turn off by themselves. “Coach Nelson?” _

_ Nick swallowed roughly. Coach Nelson should have been in his office in perfect hearing distance. _

_ “Anyone there?”  _

_ Carefully he started moving, keeping his hands out to feel his way around.  _

_ The sound of a bucket being dropped made him jump again, and it wasn’t the one he had been using.  _

_ “Hell-" _

_ Nick froze. Something slid across his foot.  _

_ Suddenly one thing sliding across his foot multiplied it seemed with each step he took. Or at least it seemed that way in the dark. _

_ “You’re mind is just playing tricks on you.” He whispered to himself, but it did nothing to calm his racing heart. He knew sometimes darkness could mess with your head, but if only he could convince himself of that at this moment.  _

_ Nick let out a noise as he felt something side around his ankle. Something...kind of slimy? _

_ With each step he took, he felt his breathing speed up along with the beating of his heart. Nick took another step and stumbled falling backwards. _

_ It was then as his hands touched the locker room floor, it hit him what he was feeling. _

_ Nick suddenly couldn’t breathe and the dark felt suffocating. _

* * *

He remembered being found an hour later by Coach Nelson who had been led away by one of the students who were obviously part of the ‘prank’. Nick had been frozen on the locker room floor his breathing shallow, his eyes clenched shut, his body covered in snakes that the students a part of it had gathered in buckets and dumped in all areas of the locker room.

Not only did it lead to his fear of snakes, but dark closed spaces made him uncomfortable (hence part of the reason for his freak out when Abby locked him in her coffin, adding to his already freak out about the  _ coffin  _ part).

Nick just didn’t anyone would be finding out about it but that got blew out of the water.

He and Ellie were taking a second look at a crime scene when he felt that same feeling sliding across his boot. 

“Nick?” Ellie asked worriedly when he froze and his face paled. 

Nick swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling dry. “Ellie...I need you to be honest with me.”

“Okay?” She took a step closer.

“Is there...a snake?”

He couldn’t bring himself to look down. 

Ellie looked confused but looked. Her eyes slowly trailed back up to him. “Uh yeah..Nick what’s-”

She stopped hearing the sudden noise coming from him, a sound oddly close to  _ whimpering _ . 

“Just..Ellie get it away.”

“Okay, okay.” Ellie quickly moved, effortlessly getting the snake away from him. 

Nick breathed out in relief, quickly turning around and speed walking back to the car where it was  _ safe _ . 

Ellie blinked in shock at his quick movements. Thankfully they were just about to leave anyway. 

“Nick?” She said softly when she reached him leaning against the trunk of the car. “Talk to me.” 

“I’m afraid of snakes okay?!” He ran his fingers through his hair. 

She stepped in front of him. “Hey Nick, look at me.”

Slowly he lifted his head. 

“Go ahead, laugh.” He chuckled dryly. “Everyone always does.”

“I’m not.” And she meant it. Maybe if she didn’t see the literal fear on his face first hand she would have, but she found nothing funny about him being  _ scared _ . “We’re all scared of something, Nick.”

He scoffed. “Yeah and I’m the supposed to be tough agent scared of something little like snakes.”

Ellie put her hands on his cheeks, making him look right at her. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m afraid of spiders.”

Nick made a face. “Not exactly the same thing-”

She leaned forward, her face only inches from his making him stop talking mid sentence. 

“I don’t care if you’re afraid of snakes.” She told him. “You’re still the same old Nick Torres to me as you were on the drive here.”

Nick’s eyes trailed to her lips making her heart jump. 

His lips slowly formed into a smile.

“Promise not to tell?”

Ellie laughed. “I promise.”

The sound of her phone ringing made they jump apart. She fumbled trying to take it out of her pocket. 

“It’s a uh text from McGee, Gibbs wants us back.”

Nick grunted in annoyance, moving to the passenger side of the car grumbling under his breath about Gibbs ruining things. Ellie bit her lip to keep from smiling. 

She may or may not have laced her fingers with his during the drive whenever they stopped at a red light.


End file.
